Nomad’s January 2011 podcast is a little different because as Tim says:
“…Rather than simply an interview you’ll hear me reflecting my daily experiences of a five-day silent retreat before discussing it with our interviewee Ruth Holegate.
The BBC documentaries The Monastery and The Big Silence really impacted Hannah and me (follow the links to check them out on YouTube). We’ve had a fair amount of teaching and encouragement in the spiritual disciplines, but silence had never been mentioned. We then saw Ruth Holgate speak on the subject at Greenbelt and we both felt a prompting to give it a go. So we signed up for a five-day silent retreat at the Jesuit Spirituality Centre Loyola Hall. We were slightly anxious that we couldn’t really afford it, but then lo-and-behold we got a tax rebate that paid for it exactly!
It was a remarkable five days. To our surprise neither of us found the silence itself especially challenging (apart from the one hour corporate silence in the evenings!). Instead the challenge came from what God was doing in us as a result of us committing ourselves to finding him in the silence…”
It’s a fascinating episode, not least for the many references to Ignatian spirituality. Tim’s self-reflections are honest and insightful, and having done a couple of silent retreats over the years, there were a number of insights and experiences I related too. I recommend it.
You’ll find the podcast here.
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